Sturgis, MS
Sturgis wildfire risk explained
Sturgis's 206 buildings earn a 64th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Sturgis's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 67th percentile nationally.
Sturgis's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Sturgis: 89.3% of its 206 buildings, versus 10.7% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Sturgis ranks
Sturgis's 64th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 43rd ranking inside Mississippi does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 22 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sturgis ranks 11,282 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,643 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 242 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Sturgis's 64th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Sturgis's 89.3% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Sturgis's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 206 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sturgis. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sturgis's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.